South Sudan ‘never loses sight’ of Sudan conflict, minister says

October 3, 2025 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s foreign minister said the country has not lost sight of its role in seeking a peaceful settlement to the conflict in neighbouring Sudan and continues to engage with regional and international partners to secure a ceasefire.

“We have never lost sight of [the conflict in] Sudan,” Foreign Affairs Minister Monday Semaya Kumba said in a statement broadcast by the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC). “His Excellency, the president… is a man of peace, and because of this spirit, he never wishes a neighbour to be at war.”

The minister’s comments followed his recent meetings with foreign counterparts during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the SSBC reported.

Kumba said the conflict in Sudan is a primary focus of Juba’s foreign policy and that he had discussed coordinating peace efforts with Russia’s foreign minister, among others.

“We agreed to continue to coordinate joint efforts on the Sudan peace process,” Kumba said, adding that these efforts aim to complement initiatives by the United Nations, African Union, Arab League, IGAD, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

South Sudan has been a key advocate for a peaceful resolution, citing its own experience with civil war and the role Sudan played in mediating its 2018 peace agreement.

Juba later mediated the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and several rebel groups. The implementation of that deal was disrupted by the outbreak of war between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.